Tick paralyzes dog in Spokane

This week news outlets all over the country reported about a Portland-area Shetland sheep dog named Ollie that was on the verge of being euthanized due to his failing health and paralysis. Fortunately, after a student veterinarian found and removed a tick behind his ear, the Ollie was fully mobile in about 10 hour after it was removed and is now fine.

I had never heard of a tick having the capability of paralyzing a dog, probably because tick paralysis is a somewhat rare condition.

But just a couple of days after Ollie’s story was in the news, tick paralysis struck a 4-year-old Yorkie in Spokane named Tucker.

“I noticed he wasn’t able to jump up the stairs and get into the house,” says Tucker’s owner Kim Rose told KHQ. “Then I noticed his back legs were not working at all. It was like he was paralyzed.”

Like Ollie, Tucker is fine now, but their stories should be a reminder to dog owners that they need to check their dogs for ticks whenever they’ve been out in heavily wooded or grassy areas where ticks thrive.

Here is a list of symptoms to watch for if you think your dog could have tick paralysis:

Vomiting

Regurgitation

Unsteadiness

High blood pressure

Fast heart rate and rhythm (tachyarrhythmias)

Weakness, especially in the hind limbs

Partial loss of muscle movements (paresis)

Complete loss of muscle movement (paralysis), commonly seen in advanced disease state

Poor reflexes to complete loss of reflex

Low muscle tone (hypotonia)

Difficulty in eating

Disorder of voice (dysphonia)

Asphyxia due to respiratory muscle paralysis in severely affected animals

Excessive drooling (sialosis)

Megaesophagus (enlarged esophagus)

Excessive dilatation of pupil in the eye (mydriasis)

If your dog exhibits these symptoms and you find a tick on it be sure you bring it to the vet so that it can be identified and its ability to transmit disease determined.